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To find and download HEASARC data in the cloud, you can use astroquery.heasarc or download our new tool, hark.

The HEASARC and NuSTAR teams are greatly saddened by the sudden passing of Katja Pottschmidt. Most recently Katja was the lead scientist for the NuSTAR Guest Observer Facility (GOF), a role she had supported for many years. During her science career she worked on many other high energy astrophysics missions and played an integral role in advancing our knowledge of the universe. She was a wonderful colleague and friend and will be keenly missed by all who knew her.


zdust: extinction by dust grains

Extinction by dust grains from Pei (1992), suitable for IR, optical and UV energy bands, including the full energy ranges of the Swift UVOT and XMM-Newton OM detectors. Three models are included which characterize the extinction curves of (1) the Milky Way, (2) the LMC and (3) the SMC. The models can be modified by redshift and can therefore be applied to extragalactic sources. The transmission is set to unity shortward of 912 Angstroms in the rest frame of the dust. This is incorrect physically but does allow the model to be used in combination with an X-ray photoelectric absorption model such as phabs. Parameter 1 (method) describes which extinction curve (MW, LMC or SMC) will be constructed and should never be allowed to float during a fit. The extinction at V, A(V) = E(B-V) x Rv. Rv should typically remain frozen for a fit. Standard values for Rv are MW = 3.08, LMC = 3.16 and SMC = 2.93 (from table 2 of Pei 1992), although these may not be applicable to more distant dusty sources.

par1 method: 1 = Milky Way, 2 = LMC, 3 = SMC
par2 E(B-V): color excess
par3 Rv: ratio of total to selective extinction
par4 z: redshift